Egypt detains entire newsroom of Matsda2sh after “fake news” allegations

Click to expand Image Six journalists from the independent investigative journalism platform Matsda2sh arrested by Egyptian security forces between September 28 and 29, 2026. © Photo courtesy of The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP). (Beirut) – Egyptian security forces arrested six journalists working for the independent investigative journalism platform Matsda2sh on September 28 and 29, 2026, and appear to have forcibly disappeared them, Human Rights Watch said today. The journalists’ whereabouts are unknown and their families and lawyers have not been permitted contact with them.Security forces arrested the journalists in raids across the country. They are: Abdallah Qadry, Mohamed Ashraf Abu Emeira, Islam Barakat, Omar Helal, Mohamed Mahmoud, and Mohamed Adel. The six journalists constitute the investigate platform’s entire editorial newsroom.“Egyptian authorities’ simultaneous arrest of the entire newsroom at a prominent independent news platform is deeply alarming,” said Bassam Khawaja, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Dismantling an entire newsroom in a matter of hours without warning or cause sends a chilling message to all journalists working in Egypt and shows just how little space is left there for critical reporting.”Matsda2sh was established in 2018 and publishes investigations and verifies information on issues of public interest in Egypt and the wider region.The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), whose lawyers represent all six journalists, said in a statement that security personnel who raided some of the journalists’ homes did not present arrest or search warrants and did not disclose the basis for their arrests or where they would be held. Security personnel also seized electronic devices belonging to the journalists and their family members. On October 1, Egypt’s Interior Ministry acknowledged the arrests and said the six journalists were suspected of preparing what it described as “fabricated news” for Matsda2sh and alleged that the platform is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, an international Islamic social and political movement. The ministry did not, in its statement, identify the specific criminal charges the journalists face or disclose where they were being held. The platform has denied the allegations. More than 80 organizations including Human Rights Watch condemned the arrests and called for the release of the journalists. The arrests of the Matsda2sh journalists come amid longstanding restrictions on independent journalism and freedom of expression in Egypt. The country remains one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, with 25 journalists behind bars, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. In September 2025, authorities detained an independent journalist, Ismail Iskandarani, over Facebook posts and charged him with offenses including “spreading false news” and “belonging to a terrorist organization.” In 2026, the authorities prosecuted and imprisoned a writer and activist, Ahmed Douma, on “false news” charges stemming from an article and a social media post about detention conditions in Egypt.Human Rights Watch has previously documented repeated arrests and prosecutions of peaceful critics, human rights defenders, journalists, and online content creators in Egypt. Egyptian authorities routinely flout due process protections and security forces subject individuals under investigation to forcible disappearance, holding them in various places of detention.The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Egypt is a party, protects the right to freedom of expression, including the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas. Under international law, the detention or abduction of a person by state forces, followed by the authorities’ refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or reveal the person’s whereabouts or situation, may constitute an enforced disappearance.“The incommunicado detention and potential enforced disappearance of six journalists raises serious concerns for their safety and due process rights,” Khawaja said. “Egyptian authorities should immediately disclose their whereabouts, grant access to their lawyers and families, and ensure that no journalist is detained or prosecuted for exercising their right to freedom of expression or for doing their job.” 

Egypt detains entire newsroom of leading fact-checking platform over 'fake news' allegations Submitted by MEE staff on Fri, 10/02/2026 - 10:51 Reporters Without Borders denounces the arrests as the 'first' to target all staff of a media organisation, while more than 80 rights groups call for the journalists' immediate release In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi attends the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on 13 September (AFP/Alexander Kazakov) Off Egyptian authorities have detained the entire newsroom of one of the country’s only independent media outlets in a move that rights groups have denounced as a “first” and an “alarming escalation” on free speech. On 28 and 29 September, security forces raided the homes of the six journalists - Mohamed Ashraf Abu Emeira, Abdallah Qadry, Islam Barakat, Omar Helal, Mohamed Mahmoud and Mohamed Adel - who constitute the entire team working for Matsada2sh (Arabic for "Don’t believe"). The arrests bring the number of journalists detained in Egypt to 24. "It is a first in Egypt: an entire newsroom behind bars," press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said, criticising the authorities for failing to reveal the journalists' whereabouts. "It's a violation of the Egyptian Constitution, even though this is common practice. Journalists detained in Egypt are often forcibly disappeared for several days before being officially charged and brought before a court," the group added. According to multiple accounts by rights groups, the officers confiscated the phones and laptops belonging to the journalists as well as those of their family members during the raids. They also did not present any arrest warrants and refused to disclose where the journalists would be held. The interior ministry later published a statement confirming the arrests and accusing the journalists of running an unlicensed platform that is “run from abroad” and of spreading "fake news". In Egypt, leaving prison does not mean escaping the security state Read More » It also accused its journalists of being affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s largest opposition group that has been outlawed under the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi since 2014. One of the platform’s editors was previously detained in 2023 over similar allegations but was released two days later. Matsada2sh was founded in 2018 as a fact-checking outlet that corrects misleading or inaccurate information by various sources, including those by official government sources or opposition media. “Independent journalism is critical in any free society and Egyptian authorities’ failure to allow free exercises of expression to thrive flies in the face of a purported commitment to dialogue, transparency, anti-corruption, and regional leadership,” more than 80 rights groups and independent media outlets said in a statement. “The crackdown on the Matsadaash platform and these arrests are alarming escalations on independent media and freedom of expression that cannot be allowed to stand.” One of the founders of Matsada2sh, Abdelrahman Mansour, who is not based in Egypt, told the Associated Press on Thursday that the families do not know where the journalists are. “Everyone on this team knew the risks when they went to work every day, but it’s unacceptable for the government to make false accusations and forcibly disappear journalists just because they’re afraid of a free press,” AP quoted Mansour as saying. “Their families are worried, we’re worried, we just want them released unharmed.” Inside Egypt News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0